Watching: all that appears solid is built on blood

Overview

Footage documenting the making of a mass grave in Khan Younis, Gaza is slowed frame by frame, re-shot on film and soaked in human blood. all that appears solid is built on blood takes a segment from a 2023 video and engages each frame individually. The blood acts as a layer of protection while at times obscuring and tinting the image, the people and the land, creating its own register of time passing. The blood-trenched frames come together in a new montage overlaid with reflections by Gazan writer and poet Ahmad Al-Shaer and a composition by Palestinian musician Bint Mbareh. Through the cadence of Al-Shaer's words and Mbareh's music, the film creates an experience of time that pays homage to the militant time-keeping of Gazan journalists and documentarians.